


Something Within

by stitchar



Category: Warframe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Changing Perspectives in some chapters, Gen, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24053590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stitchar/pseuds/stitchar
Summary: Excalibur woke up to the world he is not familiar with. He is unsure if he should trust anyone or the Lotus.Mag found herself wandering around the world where time had left her behind. She wondered what she could do to make up for the lost of time.Volt was awaken to the fight he wasn't sure of. He wondered if there's someone out there in the star system with the answers he seeks.In the world so vast, everything is not what it seems.
Kudos: 5





	1. Nyx - The Prize

Nyx settled herself up in the northern part of the snowy terrain, hiding between the branches and few cargoes that Grineer had placed around for transport. She had no interest in what their shipment was, as they are not her main priority.

No, her main target was on the other side of the tundra land, where one like her sleeps. And she is not the only one who seeks for the Tenno.

She studied the Grineer troops standing in guard, patrolling around for any intruders who would try and get past them. She listened to the barking orders of a commander, footsteps clamoring to keep things in order and steady to ensure they got to the target no problem.

Nyx could end this troop if she wants to, just cast a mass hysteria in there and let the chaos do their work. However, she cannot disobey her order even if she was itching to see chaos happening right now.

Her squad leader would not be happy that she had compromised the mission, but where is the fun in that?

The sound of incoming ship snapped out of her musings and she quickly hid behind the shadows of the ship. Hearing the loud shout of angry commander, she guessed he was not expecting the guest either.

_"Who is coming?"_ a gravelly voice came into her ear and Nyx took her time to recon the situation.

_"Unknown, for the moment,"_ She responds back through the transmission, _"High chance it is Vor. That crazy Admiral could be here to take the glory."_

She heard another voice swearing in the other side.

_"This would compromise our mission."_ He grumbled, _"Lotus would not be happy."_

Nyx cringed internally, Admiral Vor is just someone every Tenno would rather avoid as much as possible. He is dangerous and suspected to have access to Orokin technology to create weapons that could possibly be used against them. There were rumors that he had single-handedly took down any Tenno, experienced or not.

The Lotus tried her best to save any Tenno that were awakened, but a single slip of lost time can be fatal especially now that Vor is here to take the kill. They must plan this carefully if they need to protect their objective.

She looked back at the descended ship, watching the hatch open. There was a hush, with exception of the howling wind around the tall mountains. As the hatch was fully open, a figure walked down with purpose along with other soldiers following behind their leader.

The mind controller cursed inwardly when she saw who it was and sent her report back to her two squad mates, ignoring the exchange that was happening between the commanding officers.

_"This is Nyx."_ She replied, _"Admiral is here. I repeat, Admiral is here."_

_"Copy,"_ the owner of gravelly voice responded, _"Nyx head to the entrance of Orokin Void Portal, stay within the shadows. Ash and I will be there in 5 minutes."_

_"Got it Frost."_ Nyx responded, slowly crawling away from her hidden spot. She quickly hid between the rocks and snow further away from the ships. While she wished she could see what was happening back there, her mission comes first.

She can only hope there won’t be any unexpected surprises to hinder their rescue mission.

Reaching to the Orokin Void Portal was easier said then done. Nyx settled herself hiding between the large boulders, glancing over to see the swirling black mass that was decorated with gold and white plates that reminded her of the fallen empire.

It was surprising how this large thing was so well hidden from the world. Then again, Nyx guessed that Orokin had ruled over the star system for many years and no one was wise enough to go against such beings like her old master.

That and maybe because it was hidden within the cave.

She was cut out of her musings when she heard snow crunching behind her. She turned around to see Frost, blended well in snow with his white and blue armor, as well as Ash who was following behind the ice-themed Tenno.

“Any changes?” Frost asked, as he glanced over the scene ahead of them. Nyx is thankful that their voice is in such low frequency that no one would hear them speak.

“They’re bringing in the device for Vor.” She sighed, studying Vor fiddling with his chest, then frowned “What is he-“

Vor took out what it seems like a golden piece of object from his chest and slotted into the device. The machine roared to life and a golden light shot up to the portal. The portal churned and twisted changing from an expanse of stars into a room where the single prize rest, unaware of its fate.

Nyx cursed seeing the portal, “So that’s why he was able to reach to other Tenno so quickly. He had that device on him.”

“This is not good.” Ash added, “We’ll have to act fast. Frost, Nyx, I’ll go in and do Blade Storm to get rid of the guards. Kill anyone I missed. The quickly we deal with this, the sooner we can get through that portal and save that Tenno.”

Both frames nodded their head and waited for Vor and his crew to step through the portal, once they were sure which was staying behind, Ash made his move.

Jumping off their location, he teleported to any guards that were within his sight, stabbing them in the back to jumping on them and slashing his dual swords into their neck, severing their heads.

Frost and Nyx followed in; Frost quickly cast his Freeze at the enemies that were not within Ash’s sight and Nyx pulled out her bow on her back, hearing the satisfying sound of her arrows hitting right on to her enemies’ head.

Within seconds, every guard had died, with an exception of the docks. The three frames were not worried about them since those Grineer were too far away to notice anything different. Not wasting any seconds, they quickly jumped into the portal where their target lay.

The scenery changed from cold tundra to quiet, desolate hallway of old covered in gold and white. Black tendrils crawled around the sharp corners of the hallways, digging into any cracks it could get into.

“We’re in one of the Orokin halls?” Frost wondered. Nyx just shrugged in response and adjusted her trusty bow, Paris to her back. She turned around to check on the portal, only to discover that the glowing portal was missing.

“Well, there goes our way out.” She sighed forlornly, “We’ll have to go a long way to get to an exit…”

Ash patted her shoulder in comfort, “We’ll worry about that later. First thing first, let’s save our brethren.”

They quietly stepped through the door that slid open for them and making turns through various walkways, they found few Grineer standing in front of a certain door. Not wasting any time, Ash swiftly killed them, and they proceeded into the room.

Vor and his crew were further up ahead of them, distracted by a pod that was suspended up on the decorated platform. The trio quickly climbed up the wall with roots behind the Grineer, taking advantage of them too focused on the pod. Nyx settled sitting on a large root eyeing over the room in a high vantage point, both the pod and Vor within her sight.

The pod that was hidden from the world opened slowly, and from the pod, was a Warframe clad in white with few strips of red running across the frame. Nyx had seen this frame before, outside from her missions. Back in Orokin Golden era, they were the first to be created to go against the enemies in the Old War.

Their Makers called them Excalibur, the master of sword.

Nyx watched as the white warframe slid off from the opened pod, wincing as she heard the loud thump against the cracked floor. She was sure he was going to feel that for few days.

Vor did not seem to care if the warframe was hurt, he gestures to his soldiers to ready their weapons, then points at the fallen warframe. The Grineer troops followed his orders surrounding the fallen frame.

“Kill it.” He hissed, and Nyx knew that they are running out of time.

“Not yet, Nyx.” Frost cut in, jerking her thoughts out, “Wait, for the timing.”

Nyx sucked in a deep breath, and readies her Paris, the string dug into her fingers as she pulled it back in position. She only needs to make one shot, maybe two to catch them off guard. She trained her arrow to one target as she heard the clicks of gun getting ready to shoot.

“Now!” Frost commanded and Nyx made her shot, her arrow whizzing though the air. A Grineer jerked by the force of her arrow into his head which caught many of Grineer’s attention, especially Vor who was not expecting guests.

Frost and Ash were quick to jump into the fight, each using their own weapons and skills to freeze any Grineer troops away from the fallen frame. Nyx gave them support as she continued shooting her arrows to any Grineer. She saw the fallen Tenno struggling getting up, shaking off any effects it had from the cyrosleep.

She can only hope Vor won’t join in the fight. They need to distract them long enough for the fallen tenno to recover.

Unfortunately, Vor either had enough of his subordinates’ lack of progress or by their intervention, he took out his gun as well as the golden device that was attached to his chest. Nyx swore under her breath when she realized that they’re about to head into a fight that is suicidal.

“Frost! Ash! Vor just joined the fight!” Nyx yelled, “We don’t know what that yellow device is going to do, and I am _not_ staying here to find out.”

“Shit,” Frost swore, “I was hoping he would be distracted long enough… Ash! grab the fallen Tenno and we’ll head to the exit. Nyx will do her thing to keep them distracted long enough!”

Not giving much to discuss, Nyx quickly activated her favorite skill, Chaos. The result was instant as she took control all the remaining Grineer troops and have them attack each other. Within this mass hysteria, all three of them quickly jumped over the confused troops and to ensure they would not be followed, Frost blocked the only entrance with his Ice Wave. While it does not act as a wall, it helped for them to get few seconds head start to get away from the Grineer as well as Vor, who was still under the influence of Nyx’s power.

They kept on running through the once beautiful building of Orokin Palace. Making twists and turns to lose themselves into the decaying labyrinth.

After for what it felt like hours, they found themselves within the similar empty hallway of once golden city. They slowed down, catching their breath as Ash slowly let Excalibur off his shoulder. The said rescued frame looked around in confusion, not knowing what was happening.

“What happened here?” he asked, “last time I remember, this place was overrun with Dax soldiers…”

“A lot have happened,” Frost replied, “We’ve been put into cold sleep for decades and many things had changed. The Lotus will debrief you once we take you to extraction point.”

“The Lotus?” Excalibur questioned, “Who’s that?”

“She’s the one who had awakened us from our Cryostasis,” Nyx informed, “She had helped us when no one could.”

“I see…” He mumbled to himself, for few seconds he seemed to have made up his mind and looked at them, “Okay, I'll follow you three to relay. I do have many questions for her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As tag suggests, this is an alternate universe. It's my first time writing a Warframe fanfic, so please let me know how the first chapter is.  
> If there is any grammar mistakes, please let me know as well. I will edit each chapter as I can to help improve this story. (My updates will be slow however.)  
> I have my own headcanons for this story, so I'll try my best to explain some headcanons I have at the End Notes to help clear up anything I wrote within the story.


	2. Excalibur – More Questions than Answers

Excalibur is not exactly sure of what to think of the three Tennos that had rescued him from his impending death. They all explained in vague details of what had happened after they were put into cyrostasis.

Well, Frost and Ash was being vague about it, Nyx was quite more informative about it. As she was explaining more about other Tenno that are alive, both Frost and Ash left to scout for any possible Grineer threat. Excalibur opted to stay with Nyx due to himself not having anything to protect himself with, so he continued to listen to her long range of information.

“When we get to relay,” Nyx chatted, “we need to give you a nickname since there’s so many Excalibur out there in the star system.”

“Nickname?” he inquired, and Nyx nodded her head enthusiastically.

“Yeah, I’m called Athena,” She answered, “There is like, maybe 5 or 6 known Nyx in the star system and it’s confusing when we’re in the same area. So, each one of us frames here named ourselves to avoid any confusion.”

Excalibur hummed in understanding, “Makes sense. And what about Frost and Ash?”

Nyx, known as Athena, gestured at Frost with her hand.

“Halla.” She answered, then points at Ash, “His name is Mantis. We just use names the Makers gave us for missions only, unless there’s another one of us, then we’ll have to use our nicknames for the mission.”

Excalibur hummed again in response. It makes sense to him to the reason why he had to choose a name. It would be difficult to be called by a name that was handed by their Makers.

Though he wondered who had started this nicknaming trend to Tenno.

They continued their search for the exit, checking for any of the doors that could be locked. Athena tested few doors that were partially open and some slammed shut on her as she approached them. She theorized that the security system within the Orokin building was either glitched due to lack of repairs or how decrepit the building is in. The only clue they could determine that the door could open for them was the blue glow.

Excalibur looked at the doors hesitantly, adding this one in in his _‘never going to get used to that’_ list.

“How long until we reach to the said extraction point?” Ash - _Mantis_ asked, as they walked through another empty room.

Excalibur glanced around the vast room. Stairs and bridges decorated around the never-ending ceiling. Plants were bursting through the cracks of the walls and roots curled around the pillars, claimed as its own. Furnitures were shoved around by large trees, as if to make room for themselves. Grime and dusts have covered around corners of the walls, discoloring them, and leaving rusts to the once golden plates that were left exposed. There were even few doors that were struggling to close due to roots and stray furniture getting in the way.

Excalibur began to wonder how long he had been in stasis.

He was soon snapped back to attention when Athena suggested as she points up at the ceiling where it was cracked open, “We can try and get up to the hole up in the ceiling.”

Glancing up, he saw the said hole with blinding light that shines down to them. He took note how warm it was when he walked underneath the light, a vast contrast to the light that were still lit within the Orokin halls.

“Been centuries since feeling the sunlight, huh.” He heard Athena saying humorously. She was not wrong; it _had_ felt like centuries ever since he felt the sunlight.

“Anyway,” Athena continued amusingly, “We should try scout outside and see how far our extraction site is. Hopefully, the Lotus will sense us and send one of our own orbiters here. We’re in a place where plants are pretty dense, too much energy.”

Frost nodded-

 _‘Halla.’_ Excalibur reminded himself.

Halla nodded his head, “Perhaps, the tree would a bit difficult for us to navigate through. So, we’ll have to navigate this carefully- “

A loud thump interrupted behind Excalibur. The four tensed up at the sound, and Excalibur turned his head slowly.

It was another warframe, though this warframe was hunched over, as if ready to hunt with a pair of large blades he had never seen before. Excalibur could feel the threatening aura emitting from this unknown frame. He, Excalibur observed, had grey spots littered across his solid black skin. Few uncanny pink lights were placed around their arms, chests, and what he could guess could possibly be his eyes.

He glanced over at the horns where a pair of horns were curled back from his head as well as another pair curved downward, framing the face.

Excalibur then heard Athena swore under her breath, “Wendigo.” She whispered spitefully.

After what it felt like tense minutes, the said warframe, Wendigo finally stood up. He gazed at the four of them lazily, twirling one of the handles in his hands around.

He then glanced over at Halla, “ _Halla,_ ” He purred, “what a surprise to see you here.”

“Don’t call my name so carelessly,” a growl was heard from the Frost frame, “What are _**you**_ doing here Wendigo? You know we have exact orders to kill you and your lot on site by the Blades”

Excalibur looked at him confused. That warframe is another like them, brother in arms, so why the hostility of this one? He also heard another name he is not familiar with before, the Blades. Another important figure like the Lotus? Or an important group?

He had so many questions.

Wendigo chuckled, as if amused, “The reason I am here is none of your concern, but what a surprise! I see that Natah the Deciever had found another puppet to control.”

 _‘Natah the Deciever?’_ Excalibur wondered, _‘Another name I’m not familiar with. What is going on?’_

Excalibur felt someone grabbing his shoulder from behind and he stumbled back, seeing that it was Athena who stepped in front of him.

“Do _not_ call our Lotus that!” Athena hissed, “She helped us when nearly everyone wanted to destroy us. She is not this Natah that Harka spouts.”

Wendigo tilted his head sideways, “Harka speaks the truth, Athena. All of you refused to see such truth that is gallantly laid before you. You will be like our Makers, who had fallen to such false security.”

He then glanced over at Excalibur, pointing one of his melee weapons at him, “If I were you, I wouldn’t trust these simpletons so easily. Natah would make you believe that everything is all razorflies and kubrows, but in reality-“

Mantis did not let Wendigo finish his sentence, throwing his shuriken at the looming figure. Wendigo responded by deflecting it with his large bladed weapon, sending the small blade lost within the growing fauna.

“How rude,” Wendigo tutted, “if you wanted to fight, you could’ve just said it. Though four versus one isn’t quite fair isn’t it?”

As if it was a response to that, two more figures landed behind Wendigo. The first one was a robust frame, uniquely designed horn etched from his head. A single hole seemed to have drilled through the horn from the sides. Excalibur saw the said frame’s shoulder move to readjust the large weapon in his hands. It had a sharp like arrow at the end of the barrel and Excalibur could sense the danger from it.

The second one nearly did Excalibur a double take because he had a _tail_. The long-tailed frame was nothing like Eaxcalibur had seen before. Their helm was extremely smooth, blue colored sharp visor seemed to float against his face. Red was painted around the helm, giving off the illusion of having hair, and few specks of red littered across the face as if to give eyes.

Excalibur wondered what was going through the Maker’s mind when making other frames.

He was jerked out of his thoughts when Halla grabbed him by his shoulder and shoved him to a nearby opened hallway. He looked at the ice themed warframe with bewilderment, as he saw him digging his melee weapon into the lone root that was keeping the door ajar.

“Sorry,” Halla apologizes morosely, “Just worry about getting to the extraction point. The Lotus will sense you once you are outside of this place. We’ll follow you behind.”

With that, he pulled the weapon back, the root snapped in half letting the door go free. Excalibur could only watch helplessly as the door slammed between them, watching the blue light switch to orange. He could hear the loud roar and weapons going wild behind the closed door.

Excalibur wanted to pound on the door, but what benefit does it bring if he does that? The sword master frame knew that he is weaponless and helpless, and had no choice, but to move on. He turned around to the desolate hallway that is covered in green forestry. Halla had said something about the ship, so he will find that while here, it would take a while for him to find an exit, but he knew he will find one eventually.

Then, he thought back on about the Lotus. Would Lotus provide answers for him? He will never know, but there were also some few things that Wendigo said that made him worry. That she is a deceiver, a liar, someone that Tennos should not trust so easily with.

He is not so sure of anything anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names- Some of the nicknames I use in this story are reference to Tennogen and Alternate skins. But I have a headcanon that there are more than one single warframe in the star system. Like Nyx (Athena) said, there are about 5 or 6 known Nyxs in the star system and she had to use her nickname to stand out from others. 
> 
> Skins - I see Tennogen skins as something as canon to the world of Warframe. The Tenno would like to stand out more physically, so they would alter their own body to make them far more unique than a certain Default.
> 
> Voice-this had been an idea that floated around few of the communities in the fandom. I theorized that Tenno talk in an exceptionally low frequency that no one could hear them and there is a reason behind that.
> 
> Vor’s Golden Item – For many veterans, I’m sure they know what item I am referring to.


	3. Mag - Waking Up

**_-A month before Excalibur was found-_ **

When she opened her eyes, she felt heavy, like lead.

Her arms and legs refused to move, as if she had been in a sitting position for a long time. Her vision was clouded, unable to see anything in front of her. She curled her hands into a fist, trying to get her own feelings back.

Where was she? She could hear some few faint footfalls and clicks of metals hitting against some surface. She slowly blinked trying to clear her vision away, confused as to why her vision was still blurred.

 _‘Oh wait’_ , she thinks, something was covering her face. She was about to wipe it off her face until the voices made her sit still.

“Ready your weapons.” A deep voice commanded, “We need to kill these Tenno before they are awakened. The storm may have jump-started them!”

She felt dread, she is not going to die here, not now. Despite her body screaming in pain for her sudden movement, she scrambled up, quickly wiping her face to see her enemies.

She stilled when she saw deforming faces of humans, equipped heavily in unknown machinery and weapons that she had never seen before. They all wore black and green armors and she even saw some of them wearing masks. They too, froze when they saw her moving, unsure what to do.

“They’re alive!” She heard one of them scream, “Get them, before they do anything!”

She gasped, screaming in her own mind to do something, anything to get rid of the unknown enemy in front of her. Then there was a loud bang and she felt an exploding pain going through her shoulder.

 _‘They shot me.’_ She mentally screamed, _‘They literally shot me.’_

Fear whirled within her mind, she scrambled away from the unknown enemies, trying to get her footing. However, she tripped over the roots, her legs still numb by her unknown amount of time sitting in the same position. The bullets still whizzed past her and she wished she has something, _anything_ to stop the hurt coming.

Ignoring the tingling sensation from her hands and arms, she covered herself with her arms, a poor attempt to protect herself. If she looked at herself with this attempt, she would’ve laughed at the sheer stupidity of that. But she did not want to die here, not when she has so many questions about the world, who she is, and what had happened.

she heard shouts of surprise coming from her attackers, and the shooting had stopped. Cautious, she lifted her arms away from her face to see what had happened.

To her surprise, she saw the attackers being bunched together in a large field of energy. It was as if they were… magnetized?

She looked at the field in awe…did she do that?

Suddenly, the attackers started to scream in pain. She jerked back in surprise only to react in horror when she saw what the field was doing. In the field, it had bullets from her attackers, and it was moving with the force of the magnetic field, back and forth through their body, tearing through their armors like it was paper.

She did not notice the field was shrinking and before she realized what happened, the field exploded, blinding her.

As she blinked her blindness away, she was shocked to see many mangled limbs and broken armors littering across ground. She staggered up, flinching when she felt sharp pain coming through her feet as she slowly walked up to them, checking to see if any of them are still alive.

After few minutes, she took note that her attackers were more robotic than organic. Mechanized legs to arms, to armors that were fused within their biology. The masks were yellowed white with two yellow circles to indicate for their eyes, and for those who were not wearing the said masks, she was able to see the how sunken their eyes are, skin full of spots and maybe some hint of decay? She was not sure.

She looked back at the masks, sensing familiarity with it as if she had seen it before, where had she seen it before?

Shrugging it off, she decided to focus on her own survival. It wouldn’t do well if she stays here too long, and she doesn’t want to find out if these attackers have any back-ups. So, she grabbed a large gun from the tall, yellow orange looking enemy, a knife from another and some few ammo she could find from their leg pouches.

Once set, she looked around the area she’s in. It seemed to be a broken-down building, the walls had lost its colors to years of dusts and the metals that were encased into the walls and ceilings had rusted away the original color. Mother Nature had claimed this decrepit building with no restraint, brown trees curling around any open spaces it could get its own hands on, stones stacked up high, obscuring the purpose of what the building was. Perhaps she’ll never know what this building was intended for, forever to be lost by the Mother Nature itself.

Then she glanced back at the spot she woke from, to see two figures she never noticed before. Both were slumped over, never moving. She glanced over at the one on her left, this figure had a single horn on its head, and no other interesting features she could see.

There was, however, a pile of bones of what it seems to be a large four-legged creature next to the unmoving figure. Whatever it was, it had stayed by this figure until its death, a loyal pet to the master.

She then turned her attention to another, one on her right. The figure has the similar single horn on its head and seemed to have a triangle blade extruding out from the back of its head. On its arms were three strange rings and she was not sure what functions it had for this one.

Glancing down, she took note of the glowing purple flowers sitting in front of the figures. She picked up the one that was once her own spot and studied the flower. It glowed purple and blue against her hand, with small stems inside, moving along the motion of her hand.

She does not know why the flower seem familiar to her.

Putting the new information later in her mind, she carefully held her flower to her chest and walked away from the place. She hoped to come back here, to return those two who were still unmoving, waiting.

For now, she must continue, to find out who she is and how long she had been gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Volt is going to take a while


End file.
